Ever since I wrote Common Core Algebra I, I’ve had numerous discussions with math teachers around the country who weighed in on the subject of intervals of increase and decrease of functions. In my answer key, I often include the x-coordinates of the turning points in the intervals, although I’m not entirely consistent on it. Now, I’ve had folks email me clearly upset that I’ve included the x-values of turning points in the intervals. Their… Read more »
Month: January 2016
CC Alg II Polynomial Challenge on Desmos Classroom
Posted onA few days ago I posted a really neat activity where kids use the online graphing calculator Desmos to fit 20 polynomial curves based on their zeroes and one additional point. I called it the Great Polynomial Challenge. I made these by creating an image in Desmos, saving it as a GIF file, and then importing it back into Desmos. To be honest, it was a bit of a pain and the results were good,… Read more »
CC Alg II – The Polynomial Challenge – by Kirk
Posted onTake the polynomial challenge! Try to come up with as many equations as you can for the 20 polynomial graphs given in 40 minutes of time. Here’s the worksheet: Polynomial Challenge And here are the links to the challenges. Each is a Desmos graph that you can experiment with to find the correct equation. Hyperlinks are also included on the worksheet, but you can get to each challenge here. Polynomial Challenge #1 Polynomial Challenge #2… Read more »
Protected: CC Alg II Unit #6 Test – by James Sposato
Posted onNCAMS Winter Luncheon Resources
Posted onSo, I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the NCAMS Winter Luncheon about issues with Common Core Algebra II. I shared work that I had been doing and, of course, had the ubiquitous Power Point presentation as well as other resources. I promised the great Long Island teachers who were attending that I’d put up a post with many of the materials that I showed them. So, here it is. I’m going to try… Read more »
CC Alg II – The Standard Form of a Parabola – by Sean Finity of Marion CS
Posted onSean Finity of Marion Central Schools sent us a great follow-up lesson to our Unit #6.Lesson #11 – Locus Definition of a Parabola. He introduces the “Standard Form of a Parabola”, i.e. 4p(y-k)=(x-h)^2 You may have never seen this formula before, or perhaps you have. It can be used to generate the formula for a parabola if you know it’s vertex (h,k) and the distance between the vertex and the focus (or equivalently the distance… Read more »
Vertical Stretching and Compressing of Functions
Posted onSo, I’ve been engaged in a great back and forth conversation with Thomas Meininger of the Herkimer CSD about how we should describe the transformation of that occurs to f(x) when it is multiplied by a positive constant, i.e. y=k*f(x), especially when k is between 0 and 1. This conversation was spurred by the fact that in my CC Algebra II lesson on vertical stretching and compressing of functions, I claim that in the case… Read more »